Wollongong City Council has voted against freely providing its flood data to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

The council instead resolved last week that ICA “be advised of the current cost of purchasing flood data and… be informed of which data sets are available for free via council or third parties”.

ICA uses local government data for the National Flood Information Database, but does not pay for information it believes should be freely available.

Councillor Greg Petty had proposed the council provide a copy of flood study reports for each area in Wollongong, along with engineering group WMAwater’s report.

“In my opinion, council is artificially keeping insurance premiums high by not releasing the data,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

“With neither party refusing to budge, ratepayers of Wollongong will continue to suffer.”

ICA says where data has not been made available by governments, insurers are unable to offer premiums that reflect the precise nature of flooding for the location.